18 Reasons Youre Not Landing Freelance Writing Clients (And What You Can Do About It)

Face it: Youve been trying this whole freelance writing thing for three months, and you havent landed a freelance writing client. Sure, youve gotten a project here and there, but nothing recurring and nothing more than a few dollars. You have no clue why you arent landing a client. Youre pitching, looking for freelance writing jobs and nothing. Not one stinking client to show for it. What gives? Why is everyone else – you know, the other successful freelance writers – able to write for a living? Whats so different between them and you? Ive been freelance writing for over two years, and I know what makes a successful freelance writer. Someone that doesnt need to hustle 24 hours a day. Someone who gets work handed to them and one that doesnt have to worry when they get paid next. Ive taught many writers to achieve this success in less time. I can tell with the first strategy call or email whether they will be successful or not. Here are 18 reasons why youre not landing any gigs and what you can do about it. 1. Your Pitch Looks Like it Came from a Template I know. Ive mentioned on this blog quite a few times that its okay to have a template for your pitch. It helps maximize your time when youre doing this as a side hustle. Let me preface this by saying it is okay to have a template for your pitches, just dont make it appear like its a cookie-cutter template. The best way to avoid this is by researching the prospect you want to pitch to. Look online and visit their website. Read their About page and learn about their brand and message. You can infuse that in your pitch by using the same jargon or vocabulary you see on their site. You can also have a few different pitch templates so you can rotate them when youre pitching. 2. Your Pitch Isnt Personal Part of my course package is a pitch review. I read pitches from students and give them a critique and help them tweak their pitch so that it can convert more and stand out. Over the years Ive checked out a lot of pitches and some pitches just come off as impersonal. They address themselves as we and they dont share anything about themselves (if they are a great collaborative partner for example) and its all about their services in a robust way. Your pitch has to be personal. Small businesses that want a freelance writer arent looking for a company that has a roster of freelance writers; they want a solopreneur that knows their craft and can write wicked copy for them. If your pitch doesnt show that passion from you, then you wont land that gig. 3. You Dont Have a Follow-Up System in Place When you send your pitch, do you forget about it? Do you move on to the next pitch and not worry about the pitches you sent?  If they respond, thats great; if they dont move on. Well, youll have a better chance at landing gigs if you create a follow-up system to every pitch you send out. This means after a set time ( a week, two weeks, or several months depending on whether you pitched a small business or magazine) you email them again and ask if they filled the spot for a content writer. This email isnt mean-spirited. Its just a friendly reminder that youre still available and to to please reconsider. Doing this one thing can help you land that client. Its happened to me, and its happened to my students. 4. You Didnt Negotiate in a Professional Way Yikes! You have to negotiate? You didnt sign up for that! Well newbie freelance writer, if you want to land that gig, you need to grow a pair. Sorry, if thats a little blunt, but its true. Im an introvert by nature. Large crowds (and even smaller crowds) and events drain me. I get energized by being by myself and listening to my tunes or even by doing a presentation to a small group. I do thrive off of some people if I do a Facebook live or webinar. So, for me, emailing, pitching, negotiating and networking is easy peasy. Thats because its online and not in front of someone. When you get a response from your pitch, and they ask you your rate, please dont say, Whats your budget? or My rate is $50 per 500 words, but whatever works for you. Ouch and no. This isnt how you negotiate. Another thing to remember is that you are a collaborator, not an employee of the client. You are working with the client to create content for their business. You can squash any potential freelance writing gig by not being professional in your response. Instead, when they ask you your rate, tell them. My typical rate for this type of project is X per 500 words. 5. You Dont Have a Website There are a lot of new freelance writers that email me asking if they NEED a website. Want to freelance online without a website?! Of course, you need a website. If I want to hire a graphic designer or VA, do you think Im just going to look in the newspaper? Or ask a blogger friend? Sure, they  may tell  me some names (word of mouth is a strong marketing tool), but its inefficient on your end. If people cant find you, they wont hire you. After my debacle with content mills and freelance marketplaces, I put up a website and created a services page and blog. I looked at other freelance writer websites and saw some commonalities. From there I learned how to sell my services. What if you are bootstrapping it? Thats okay. Starting a website isnt a lot of money. For under $100 you can get your WordPress site started. Remember, this is a business, not a hobby. You have to invest in yourself and in your business for it to grow. In the interim, start a Facebook page (if youre really struggling) and market your business there. 6. You Dont Have Samples I beg to differ. You DO have samples. If you edited your friends resumà © or made a newsletter for your uncles soccer store or wrote for your high school newspaper, you can drum up some samples. Now, do they translate online? Not all of them. Thats why the best samples are ones you can create on your blog or from  a Google Doc! Create up to three samples and post them on your writer website. Its that easy. To show prospects you can write, create samples and post them on your website. 7. Your Samples Dont Show Your Value Okay. Theres another problem with new freelance writers. They have samples, but they arent the right samples. Why? Because your samples dont show the value, you have as a writer. A client wants high-value from their writer (especially if they are paying for it). If youre still stuck in the $.04/word or $.o6/word range, clients arent really hiring you for value. They just want a good rate with good enough content. Once you get into the $.10-.30+/word range, then you bet your bottom britches clients want top notch content. If your samples dont show that, then youre not going to land high-paying clients. Over on my writer website, the first couple of samples in my portfolio are high-value ones. They are from popular and established websites, they are long form, and they pack a lot of examples and industry knowledge. Those alone helps me convince prospects that I know my digital marketing niche. Go to your portfolio page and take a good look at your samples. Do they really show how great of a writer you are? Or, is it just filled with all your published posts? Its time to pare down your portfolio. 8. Youre Not Confident Ive been dancing around this one for a while. A lot of new freelance writers struggle with being confident in their writing ability and marketing ability. When I first started this whole thing, I had some challenges with my confidence. For me, it was based on the fact that I dont have a journalism degree or any type of writing degree. But, you know what? Clients could give a hoot about whether you have impeccable grammar or a degree in English or journalism. They want to know you can write for their audience and relate their message and brand to them. They want a professional writer that turns in work on time, can work by themselves, and knows their niche. Confidence happens when you practice. Right now, Ive been doing Facebook live sessions. Now, Ive done webinars before, but Facebook Lives are different. They are more personal and engaging, and the feedback is quick. Youre also on the screen the whole time (mostly) and not referring to your slides. Can I say Im not confident at all? Im anxious, I stumble over my words, and Im so not polished on these Facebook lives. But, you know what? Im still doing them. Im doing a 5 days of freelance writing tips Facebook Live over on my Facebook page. I have no idea how that will go. It will be the wild wild west on my Facebook page, and for some reason, freelance writing gets a lot of ridicule than other freelance businesses! Go figure. But, thats not stopping me. I know how important video will be for 2017, so I better jump on board with cold feet. And, you should do the same with your freelance writing business. 9. You Have No Idea Where To Find Your Ideal Client Do you even know who your ideal client is? Trying to find your ideal client can be a challenge. This is the client that helps you become a writer for a living. This is the client that doesnt balk at your rate, values your writing and offers a testimonial. You want that client, but where the heck are they? I can tell you right now; you probably wont find them on Upwork. Now, I know there are writers out there that have worked with their ideal clients on that platform, but Ive had no luck finding any work there, and pitching was terrible on that platform. To find your ideal client, you need to: Raise your rate Create an inbound marketing strategy Use other pipelines to find a client (not only job boards) Its all in your hands freelance writer! 10. Youre Not Spending Time on Your Freelance Biz Let me guess: This is a side hustle for you, right? You have a full-time job to go to that sucks up all your time, and then when youre home, you have a family to tend to. I get it. I do this as a side hustle too (still do) and its hella hard to find time for my client work. My twins no longer nap and the only time I can write is at night. Now, if this were  the case when I first started, it wouldnt have taken me 6 months to make a living as a freelance writer; it wouldve probably taken much much longer. When you dont give yourself adequate time to grow your business, dont expect to have jobs coming to you. You have to invest in your business, so carve time before going to work or during nap time and at night (sorry The Walking Dead, but Ill watch when my client work is done!). 11. Your Niche is Too Broad Whats your niche? Is it gardening? Parenting? Health? These niches are too broad. Anyone can have those niches, so how do you expect a client to find the perfect health writer? When they find a paleo health writer or medical writer for small businesses. The riches are in the niches writers! When you can hone your niche, clients will magically be able to find you and hire you on the spot. Its that simple and that quick. How do you hone your niche? Look at your expertise and knowledge or look what you like to write about. For me, I enjoy writing about content marketing and email marketing on social media. From there, make a new title for your business. I like to go by a B2B professional writer. 12. You Avoid Social Media (Like the Plague!) Oh no, dont tell me you dont have a Twitter profile or at least a LinkedIn profile? If you want to get paid as a freelance writer online, you need to be on social media. This is another way to show your credibility as an online writer. Its free to use, and its easy to create a profile. Remember that these profiles are business ones. If you already have social media profiles, you can use them for your business (just remove pictures that dont align with your biz) or create new profiles. Since I didnt have a Twitter or LinkedIn profile before I started freelance writing, I just created new profiles. Make sure you also show your face. Even if you are a private person, you should still show some personal features of you. Some writers choose to use an avatar. This is fine, but having a real headshot helps with trusting you more. 13. You Dont Network I have an email list of almost 4,000 subscribers, and its such a personal relationship I share with my subscribers. And, when I hear from a subscriber tell me they dont normally reply to newsletters or even attempt to email writers, I feel a little sad. Networking is such a pivotal part  to the long-term success of your business. Without networking, youre facing this journey all alone. Networking was what helped me with getting my gig on OptinMonster as well as writing for influences in my industry. It also helped me raise my rate and appear more credible since I had social proof from a network of entrepreneurs that I could write. So, how do you network? Share other peoples work Comment on blogs you want to write for Email other freelance writers 🙂 Follow other writers and small businesses 14. You Dont Try Other Ways to Find Clients I know. You are already having a tough time landing ANY work, so its not worth it to try something new. And heck, you may not even know of other ways (or how to use other ways) to land clients. It took me a while to learn about cold pitching and warm pitching, but now that I acquired those skills, its easy for me to find and land work. I also learned how to find clients on social media too! If you cant find work on Upwork, then try freelance writing job boards. If that doesnt pan out, start looking at cold and warm pitching. 15. You Dont Have a Pitching Process Do you feel like your sending pitches with no rhyme or reason? You pick a job board here, you cold pitch a company there, and then wait a bit before you do it again. Its important to have a pitching process that can help streamline your acquisition process. This means having a process when you pitch and knowing when to pitch, where youll pitch and creating a follow-up sequence. 16. Youre Stuck Writing For Pennies I hear ya. Freelance marketplaces or content mills dont value us as writers. They want the most amount of content for the least amount of money. They care less about the content and what you provide overall. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but this is what I found. You waste your time trying to find these low-ball offers and then dont have time to really try to land some profitable gigs. Its time to switch that around and find a new way to find jobs. To start getting more higher-paying clients: Create a writer website Become an expert in your niche Search for  freelance writing jobs Learn how to effectively cold pitch and warm pitch 17. Youre Not Taking Any Action Youre probably overwhelmed by this all, right? Suddenly, theres just too much information, and you have analysis paralysis. I so get you. I get sometimes stuck if I read too much of one thing or watch videos of one topic. Its best not to get sucked into reading or watching one more thing. Learn to block all that social noise and focus on whats important: creating a sustaining and profitable freelance writing business so you can make a living from it. Then, take action.   Write a pitch, start a blog, hob knob with influencers, leave blog comments, etc.. Try to do one thing a day to get you closer to landing a client (My 6 day free course is a good start). 18. You Had a Misconception That It Was Easy Some new freelance writers think its easy to land clients. They think if  they have a blog or a degree in creative writing, that clients will come knocking on their door so to speak. This type of freelance writer  will find it extremely hard to land any profitable gig. They will hold out and not be any flexible with their writing or expectations. If you think its easy, change that mindset now. Know that you have to work from the ground up to be profitable. It wont be handed to you that easily. I know it may be hard for some, but the sooner you learn that you have to work hard, the quicker youll be at attracting the right client for you. Wrapping it Up There are many reasons why you may not be landing a freelance writing client or a profitable client. I know at  the beginning of my journey, I made a lot of mistakes. I had to learn from them and it took me longer to where I am today. I hope you find yourself in one of these reasons and use the tips to help you change and start getting a client! Let me know in the comments why you think youre not landing any (or profitable) clients.

The Greedy Triangle Teaches Kids About Geometry

The Greedy Triangle Teaches Kids About Geometry This sample lesson plan uses the book The Greedy Triangle to teach about the attributes of two-dimensional figures. The plan is designed for second-grade and third-grade students, and it requires a 45-minute period for two  days. The only supplies needed are: The book The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn BurnsSeveral sheets of poster paper The objective of this lesson plan is for  students to learn that shapes are defined by their attributes- specifically the number of sides and angles they have.  The key vocabulary words  in this lesson are  triangle,  square,  pentagon,  hexagon, side and  angle. Common Core Standards Met This lesson plan satisfies the following Common Core standards in the Geometry category and Reason With Shapes and Their Attributes sub-category.   2.G.1. Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.3.G.1. Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories. Lesson Introduction Have students imagine that they are triangles and then ask them several questions. What would be fun? What would be frustrating? If you were a triangle, what would you do and where would you go? Step-by-Step Procedure Create four large pieces of chart paper with the headings â€Å"Triangle,† â€Å"Quadrilateral,† â€Å"Pentagon† and â€Å"Hexagon.† Draw examples of these shapes at the top of the paper, leaving lots of room to record student thoughts.Keep track of student responses in the lesson introduction on the four large pieces of paper. You will continue to add responses to this as you read the story.Read the story The Greedy Triangle to the class. Split the lesson over two days to go through the story gradually.As you read the first section of the book about the Greedy Triangle and how much he likes being a triangle, have students retell sections from the storys include fit into the space near people’s hips and be a piece of pie. Have students list more examples if they can think of any.Continue to read the story and add to the list of student remarks. If you take your time with this book to get lots of student thoughts, you will likely need two days for th e lesson.At the end of the book, discuss with the students why the triangle wanted to be a triangle again. Homework and Evaluation Have students write an answer to this prompt: What shape would you like to be and why? Students should use all of the following vocabulary words to create a sentence: AngleSideShape They should also include two of the following terms: TriangleQuadrilateralPentagonHexagon Example answers include: â€Å"If I were a shape, I would want to be a pentagon because it has more sides and angles than a quadrilateral.† â€Å"A quadrilateral is a shape with four sides and four angles, and a triangle has only three sides and three angles.†